We traveled to Central Washington State to hike the “desert lands” areas in spring.    We camped at State Parks and hiked a different trail each day.    We started with the Steamboat Rock hike, then did a loop route of hikes – Northrup Canyon, Lenore Caves, Umatilla Rock, Park Lake Canyon, Deep Lake, Gingko Petrified Forest, Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, the John Wayne Trail, Whiskey Dick Wilderness, Ancient Lake, and Lincoln Rock.    The trails were all dry and desert-like, and were quite varied in terrain and habitat.

One of the hikes we did was through the Whiskey Dick Hills.

The hills were treeless, but had a series of double tracks to hike up ridges to viewpoints.    We hiked a km loop route, taking in several viewpoints.

These dry hills rise above irrigated valleys, with water provided by the various Columbia River dams and canals.    to the west was a wind farm with turbines standing on open ridges.    To the east was Gingko Petrified Forest State Park (which we also hiked).

These arid hills had lizards, snakes, several kinds of cacti, and lots of spring wildflowers.   The Whiskey Dick Hills make a fine spring hike, but would be less enjoyable in summer on these open south-facing dry slopes.

Not many Canadians know that the Central Washington State area has desert-like lands that are fine for hiking and camping in spring.   When the cross-border fracas settles down, we hope to return to hike some more of these trails.